It looks like things aren't going as badly for Sony as we thought, as the online portion of their PS3 is at least usable enough for internal testing. When gamespot went to test Full Auto 2 for the PlayStation 3, they played the online portion of the game on Sony's online network.

Like Xbox Live, the online service will be available when the console launches, and the "basic" version will be free. We look forward to more updates on how this develops, and whether they'll have a marketplace similar to Xbox Live's.